Newsletter

Bowman named CHCS medical director

Dr. J. Russell “Russ” Bowman has been promoted by the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consoritum to the position of medical director for community health care services.

Bowman most recently has been serving as deputy medical director for community health care services. He replaces longtime medical director Dr. David Vastola who recently returned to S’áxt’ Hít Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital as a practicing pediatrician. Bowman, who holds the rank of captain in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, joined the SEARHC staff in June 2007 when he became the clinical medical director for the Haines Health Center following his transfer from the U.S. Coast Guard to the USPHS Commissioned Corps. Before joining SEARHC, Bowman spent six years as director of the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka medical clinic. He also has extensive experience working in emergency medicine, having served as a flight surgeon for 18 years combined with both the U.S. Army National Guard in West Virginia (1989-96, active duty and reserves) and with the U.S. Coast Guard in Virginia and Alaska (1993-2007).

Bowman earned a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the University of Health Sciences in Kansas City, Mo. In August 2007, he earned a Master of Health Administration degree from the University of Washington and in December 2008 he received his Certified Physician Executive credential. Bowman has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., and a Master of Science degree from the Marshall University Department of Family and Community Health in Huntington, W.Va. He completed a residency in family medicine at Marshall University and a fellowship in emergency medicine at the Charleston Area Medical Center and West Virginia University, Charleston. Bowman is board certified in family medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine and in emergency medicine by the American Association of Physician Specialists. He is a fellow in the American Academy of Family Physicians and is a fellow in the American Academy of Emergency Medicine.